Process of producing ferromanganese.



JOHN TYLER JONES, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T THOMAS J. I

, HOWELLS, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING FERROMANGANESE.

No Drawing.

. and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a newand useful Improvementin Processes of Producing Ferromanganese, of which the following is aspecification,

My invention relates-to improvements in processes for producingferromanganeseand it consists in the steps hereinafter descrlbed andclaimed.

In certain parts of the country, notably in Minnesota, there is a largedepositof manganese in the form of manganese oxid wh ch is ofcomparatively low grade. Chief among these deposits is that known as theCuyuna Range. p I

Various attempts have been made to'use this ore in the making of'ferromanganese but these trials have been commercially unsuccessfulbecause of the fact that the ore has a low proportion of manganese, andthat it is high in phosphorus. Itis true that spiegeleisen has been madefrom th1s ore but this only contains a relatively small proportion ofmanganese, The specifications for a good ferromanganese requireapproximately eighty per cent. (80%) of manganese to twenty percent.(20%) of iron. Of late the price of ferromanganese has risen enormouslyowing to the great demand for metal in the makin of munitions of war aswell as for use in t e domestic arts.

One of the main objects of the present invention is the provision of aprocess by means of which ferromanganese may be produced at a relativelylow cost from low grade manganese ore such as that found in the CuyunaRange.

A further object of my invention is to provide a process which can becarried out quickly, thereby resulting in a saving of time as well as incost.

A further object of my invention is to pro-' vide a process for makingferromanganese which does not require the use of specially designedmachinery to carry out the process,

- but which may be carried out through the use of ordinary apparatussuch as a regeneratlve colilng oven and a regeneratlv'e furnace. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

Application filed October 12, 1917. Serial No. 196,196.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the followin specificationand the novel features of the lnvention will be particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

The deposit of the manganese ore inthe Cuyuna Range occurs in what isknown as blanket formation, that is to say, the ore is found justbeneath the top soil at distances approximatin twenty feet and-issubstantially level with thesurface of the' ground, instead of beinginclined in veins. The ore is, therefore, readily available in regionswhere roads have already been built. As stated before, the reason whythe deposits have not been worked heretofore is because up to thepresent time no process has been found which would render the use ofthis ore commercially profitable.

The ore is mined in the ordinary way,that is to say, in the manner inwhich such blanket formations near the surface are mined and it is thencrushed. It should be stated that accompanying the manganese oxid isiron oxid, silica and phosphorus so that the ore really contains ironand man- Assuming for the purpose of illustration that the particularore under consideration consists of a mixture of iron oxid, manganeseoxid, silica, phosphorus and "small particles of other elements, theore, asstated above, is crushed b passin it through ordinary crushingrolls to a fineness of from twenty to one hundred mesh.

Preferably bituminous coal of a quality which has thirty-six per cent.(36%) of volatile matter, sixty per cent. (60%) of fixed carbon and theremainder of various organic and inorganic constituents, is crushed to acorresponding fineness, that is to say, to substantially twenty mesh,although the crushing of the coal to the same fineness of the ore is notnecessary. The crushed ore and the crushed coal are now mixed in anysuitable mixing device such as a rota-ting barrel or the like, and arethoroughly intermingled. It is necessary that an excess of coal be usedand the propor-- third of ore and two-thirds of coal, although theseproportions mav be varied without departing in the least from the spiritand scope of the invention. The mixed material is now put into a furnaceor retort and heated. The particular kind of retort forms no part of thepresent invention. An ordinary Siemens regenerating coking oven or anordinary by-product oven may be used and the temperature at which themixture is heated is preferably the highest temperature ordinarily usedin making coke.

The material, that is to say, the mixed coal and ore is left in the ovenlong enough to thoroughly coke the mass. The time depends, ofcourse,upon the size of the oven. With some ovens twenty-four hours issufficient, while others require forty-eight and others perhapsseventy-two. When the mixed ore and coal is put in a small crucible andheated the mass is coked in a few minutes.

After the material has been coked it is taken out of the oven in ared-hot condition and water is turned on it as in the ordinary processof making coke. The product is a substance which has "cry much theappearance of coke. On closer examination, however, it will be foundthat the metal is in a metallic state, that is to say, instead of beingin the oxid form, it is in the metal form and the oxygen has beensubstantially driven off. Furthermore, the metals to be recovered by theprocess are not in an alloyed state. In the example assumed above, wehave taken a mixture of iron oxid and manganese oxid, but in the finalproduct the iron appears as metallic iron, the manganese as" metallicmanganese. and not as alloy. The reason is obvious; these particles areseparated by particles of coke. The whole is in an agglomerated formhavmg the appearance of ordinary coke, except when examined criticallywith a microscope.

I desire to call particular attention to the fact that substantially noair is admitted to the furnace during the coking or heating operation.Neither are any fluxes used.

The product is now in a state in which the iron and manganese ca I bereadily brought to the proper proportions. 'Iniorder to do this I maycrush the coked material and may separate substantially all of the ironout magnetically. ,The residue containing manganese, silica and otherelements is treated for the separation of themanganese. This isaccomplished by means of a gravity separator such as a lVilfiey table orsimilar device. This separation leaves the greater portion of thephosphorus in the residue.

The final step is the reduction of the iron and manganese to the alloyedstate; this is .done in any suitable retort or furnace, by

mixing the iron and manganese thus separated in the desired proportlons.No flux is used; all that is necessary is to heat the mass to such atemperature as will consume the coke and cause the fusion of 'the ironand manganese, whereupon there will be formed a ferromanganese alloy ofthe proportions desired.

The process'described herein, it will be noted, requires that the ore bein a finely divided state. The whole tendency of modern metallurgy atleast up to the time of applicants invention, has been to get away fromthe finely divided state, that is to say, to carry out the operationwith lumps of ore, not small particles of ore or ore dust. The reason isobvious; in the ordinary operation dust is blown out of the furnaces.Whole sections around metal reduction works are covered with this finedust and therefore, the tendency has been to exert every effort to keepdown the dust, because not only does it forma nuisance in thesurrounding community, but it causes an actual loss of material. In myprocess I make use of ex'ery bit of the crushed material. The crushedmaterial is put into an air-tight heating device, no dust can possiblyescape, the finer the material, the better is the coked product. but thelatter 'comesout in the form of an agglomerated mass which may be.handled without inconvenience and which is in the state from which themetal may be easily obtained as described.

I desire to call particular attention to'the fact that in the particularexample set forth above the production of the agglomerated massconsisting of the metals separated by particles of carbon is effected bythe volatile constituents of the coal and that there remains just asmuch coke as would ordinarily be produced when coal of the given weightis treated in the ordinary manner. Now this cokeitself has, of course,amarketable value. The reduction of the metals has been accomplished bythe volatile constituents of which hydrogen and various hydro-carbonsare important factors. Furthermore, when a byproduct oven is used notonly are the volatile portions of the coal used in bringing the metalsto the metallic state, but certain constituents of the excess ofvolatile matter may be recovered in addition. This again renders theprocess still more economical.

I claim 1. The herein described process of producing ferromanganesewhich consists in heating material containing iron oxid and manganeseoxid with coal, substantially out ducing ferromanganese which consistsin heating ore. containing iron and manganese weaves with an excess ofcoal, substantially out of the presence of air, separating the iron fromthe resulting product, separating the manganese from the residue andfusing the iron and manganese to form the alloy.

3. The herein described process of producing ferromanganese whichconsists in heating finely divided ore containing iron and manganesewith coal, substantially out of the presence of air, separating the ironfrom the resulting product, separating the manganese from the residue,and fusing the iron and manganese to form the alloy.

4:. The herein described process of producing ferromanganese Whichconsists in heating finely divided ore containing the oxids of iron andmanganese With an excess of finely divided or pulverized coal,substantially out of the presence of air, separating the iron from theresulting product, separating the manganese from the residue, and fusingthe iron and manganese to form the alloy.

5. The herein described process of producing ferromanganese Whichconsists in heating finely divided ore containing the oxids of iron andmanganese With an excess of finely divided or pulverized coal,substantially out of the presence of air, crushing the resultingproduct, magnetically separating the iron from the crushed product,separating the manganese from the residue and fusing the iron andmanganese to form the alloy.

6. The herein described process of producing ferromanganese whichconsists in heating finely divided ore containing the oxids of iron andmanganese with an excess of finely divided or pulverized coal,substantially out of the presence of air, crushing the resultingproduct, magnetically separating the iron from the crushed product,

separating the manganese from the residue by gravitational means, andfusing the iron and manganese to form the alloy.

7. The herein described process of producing ferromanganese Whichconsists in heating finely divided ore containing the oxids of iron andmanganese With an excess of finely divided or pulverized coal,substantially out of the presence of air, crushing the resultingproduct, magnetically separating the iron from the crushed product,separating the manganese from the residue by gravitational means, andfusing definite proportions of the iron and manganese to form an alloyof the desired composition.

8. The herein described steps in a process of producing ferromanganesewhich consists in crushing an ore containing iron oxid and manganeseoxid, mixing the crushed ore With crushed coal and heating the mixtureout of the presence of a flux to bring the iron and manganese into themetallic state.

9. The herein described steps in a process of producing ferromanganesewhich con sists in crushing an ore containing iron oxid and manganeseoxid, mixing the crushed ore with crushed coal and heating the mixtureout of the presence of a fiux to bring the iron and manganese into themetallic state, and to coke the coal.

10. The herein described process of producing ferromanganese whichconsists in heating material containing iron oxid and manganese oxidwith carbonaceous material, substantially out of the presenceof air,separating the iron from the resulting product, separating the manganesefrom the residue and fusing the iron and manganese to form the alloy.

JOHN TYLER JONES.

